The previous year, 1901, the Hygienic Laboratory had been recognized for the first time in a statute. The "experiment" with science in the federal government proved so successful that Congress authorized $35,000 for a separate building for the laboratory in a supplemental appropriations act that year. It noted that the Laboratory had the authority to investigate "infectious and contagious diseases and matters pertaining to the public health." Thus was the organic legislation for the National Institutes of Health written into law.